1,431 research outputs found
Electro-kinetic technology as a low-cost method for dewatering food by-product
Increasing volumes of food waste, intense environmental awareness, and stringent legislation have imposed increased demands upon conventional food waste management. Food byproducts that were once considered to be without value are now being utilized as reusable materials, fuels, and energy in order to reduce waste. One major barrier to the valorization of food by-products is their high moisture content. This has brought about the necessity of dewatering food waste for any potential re-use for certain disposal options. A laboratory system for experimentally characterizing electro-kinetic dewatering of food by-products was evaluated. The bench scale system, which is an augmented filter press, was used to investigate the dewatering at constant voltage. Five food by-products (brewer’s spent grain, cauliflower trimmings, mango peel, orange peel, and melon peel) were studied. The results indicated that electro-kinetic dewatering combined with mechanical dewatering can reduce the percentage of moisture from 78% to 71% for brewer’s spent grain, from 77% to 68% for orange peel, from 80% to 73% for mango peel, from 91% to 74% for melon peel, and from 92% to 80% for cauliflower trimmings. The total moisture reduction showed a correlation with electrical conductivity (R2¼0.89). The energy consumption of every sample was evaluated and was found to be up to 60 times more economical compared to thermal processing
The experiences of research participants offered genetic test results as a result of taking part in a population based ovarian cancer research study?
Bipolar molecular outflow of the very low-mass star Par-Lup3-4
Very low-mass stars are known to have jets and outflows, which is indicative
of a scaled-down version of low-mass star formation. However, only very few
outflows in very low-mass sources are well characterized. We characterize the
bipolar molecular outflow of the very low-mass star Par-Lup3-4, a 0.12
M object known to power an optical jet. We observed Par-Lup3-4 with
ALMA in Bands 6 and 7, detecting both the continuum and CO molecular gas. In
particular, we studied three main emission lines: CO(2-1), CO(3-2), and
CO(3-2). Our observations reveal for the first time the base of a
bipolar molecular outflow in a very low-mass star, as well as a stream of
material moving perpendicular to the primary outflow of this source. The
primary outflow morphology is consistent with the previously determined jet
orientation and disk inclination. The outflow mass is
, with an outflow rate of
A new fitting to the
spectral energy distribution suggests that Par-Lup3-4 may be a binary system.
We have characterized Par-Lup3-4 in detail, and its properties are consistent
with those reported in other very low-mass sources. This source provides
further evidence that very low-mass sources form as a scaled-down version of
low-mass stars.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. Accepted in A&
CARMA Large Area Star Formation Survey: Project Overview with Analysis of Dense Gas Structure and Kinematics in Barnard 1
We present details of the CARMA Large Area Star Formation Survey (CLASSy),
while focusing on observations of Barnard 1. CLASSy is a CARMA Key Project that
spectrally imaged N2H+, HCO+, and HCN (J=1-0 transitions) across over 800
square arcminutes of the Perseus and Serpens Molecular Clouds. The observations
have angular resolution near 7" and spectral resolution near 0.16 km/s. We
imaged ~150 square arcminutes of Barnard 1, focusing on the main core, and the
B1 Ridge and clumps to its southwest. N2H+ shows the strongest emission, with
morphology similar to cool dust in the region, while HCO+ and HCN trace several
molecular outflows from a collection of protostars in the main core. We
identify a range of kinematic complexity, with N2H+ velocity dispersions
ranging from ~0.05-0.50 km/s across the field. Simultaneous continuum mapping
at 3 mm reveals six compact object detections, three of which are new
detections. A new non-binary dendrogram algorithm is used to analyze dense gas
structures in the N2H+ position-position-velocity (PPV) cube. The projected
sizes of dendrogram-identified structures range from about 0.01-0.34 pc.
Size-linewidth relations using those structures show that non-thermal
line-of-sight velocity dispersion varies weakly with projected size, while rms
variation in the centroid velocity rises steeply with projected size. Comparing
these relations, we propose that all dense gas structures in Barnard 1 have
comparable depths into the sky, around 0.1-0.2 pc; this suggests that
over-dense, parsec-scale regions within molecular clouds are better described
as flattened structures rather than spherical collections of gas. Science-ready
PPV cubes for Barnard 1 molecular emission are available for download.Comment: Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), 51 pages, 27 figures
(some with reduced resolution in this preprint); Project website is at
http://carma.astro.umd.edu/class
Labels direct infants’ attention to commonalities during novel category learning
Recent studies have provided evidence that labeling can influence the outcome of infants’ visual categorization. However, what exactly happens during learning remains unclear. Using eye-tracking, we examined infants’ attention to object parts during learning. Our analysis of looking behaviors during learning provide insights going beyond merely observing the learning outcome. Both labeling and non-labeling phrases facilitated category formation in 12-month-olds but not 8-month-olds (Experiment 1). Non-linguistic sounds did not produce this effect (Experiment 2). Detailed analyses of infants’ looking patterns during learning revealed that only infants who heard labels exhibited a rapid focus on the object part successive exemplars had in common. Although other linguistic stimuli may also be beneficial for learning, it is therefore concluded that labels have a unique impact on categorization
Functional skewing of the global CD8 T cell population in chronic hepatitis B virus infection
The inflamed liver in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (CHB) is characterized by a large influx of non–virus-specific CD8 T cells. Little is known about the functional capacity of these lymphocytes, which could provide insights into mechanisms of failure of viral control and liver damage in this setting. We compared the effector function of total circulating and intrahepatic CD8 T cells in CHB patients and healthy donors. We demonstrated that CD8 T cells from CHB patients, regardless of their antigen specificity, were impaired in their ability to produce interleukin-2 and proliferate upon TCR-dependent stimulation. In contrast, these CD8 T cells had preserved production of the proinflammatory cytokines interferon-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α. This aberrant functional profile was partially attributable to down-regulation of the proximal T cell receptor signaling molecule CD3ζ, and could be corrected in vitro by transfection of CD3ζ or replenishment of the amino acid arginine required for its expression. We provide evidence for depletion of arginine in the inflamed hepatic microenvironment as a potential mechanism for these defects in global CD8 T cell signaling and function. These data imply that polarized CD8 T cells within the HBV-infected liver may impede proliferative antiviral effector function, while contributing to the proinflammatory cytokine environment
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Color comparisons and interpersonal variation
An important challenge to color objectivists, who hold that statements concerning color are made true or false by objective (non-subject-involving) facts, is the argument from interpersonal variation in where normal observers locate the unique hues. Recently, an attractive objectivist response to the argument has been proposed that draws on the semantics of gradable adjectives and which does not require defending the idea that there is a single correct location for each of the unique hues (Gómez-Torrente, 2016). In Hansen (2015), I argued that the recent objectivist response doesn’t apply to comparative occurrences of color adjectives, so a revised, comparative, version of the argument from interpersonal variation remains a powerful objection to certain types of objectivism. In this paper, I address several unsatisfactory objectivist replies to the comparative version of the argument from interpersonal variation, and offer what I think is a more plausible objectivist reply to the comparative argument from interpersonal variation
Homozygous CDA*3 is a major cause of life-threatening toxicities in gemcitabine-treated Japanese cancer patients
Among 242 Japanese pancreatic cancer patients, three patients (1.2%) encountered life-threatening toxicities, including myelosuppression, after gemcitabine-based chemotherapies. Two of them carried homozygous CDA*3 (CDA208G>A [Ala70Thr]), and showed extremely low plasma cytidine deaminase activity and gemcitabine clearance. Our results suggest that homozygous *3 is a major factor causing gemcitabine-mediated severe adverse reactions among the Japanese population
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